La dimensione etica del benessere in università: riflessioni e prospettive

The noteworthy definition advanced by the Global Wellness Institute, which conceptualizes well-being as a genuine lifestyle, foregrounds the active role of individuals and communities who embrace a complex understanding of well-being, encompassing a plurality of diverse, interconnected, and mutually reinforcing dimensions. Contemporary society is characterized by a paradox: on the one hand, there is a widespread adaptation to diminished standards in the quality of everyday life, within environments that we ourselves have produced through socioeconomic arrangements marked by precarity, social insecurity, and limited services and support systems; on the other hand, there is an increasing demand for well-being, calling for a political and social shift capable of reorienting individual and collective behaviours towards solidarity and sustainable economic models. The safeguarding of well-being and equity constitutes a primary concern within the academic context as well. Their progressive recognition and implementation depend on the acknowledgement and consolidation of practices aimed at promoting the right to beauty. This right is articulated through a twofold dimension: first, the right of stakeholders to access dignified, adequately maintained, and aesthetically meaningful environments; and second, the organizational adoption of a systemic framework grounded in the recursive loop of care, in line with the principles underpinning the One Health model. The distinctive feature of this model lies in its capacity to integrate self-care, care for others, and care for the ecosystem, beginning with the preservation and enhancement of beauty in the immediate environments that surround us. In this way, beauty does not remain an abstract principle but is translated into a virtuous constellation of shared everyday practices involving all actors within the system. The promotion of well-being in academic settings is therefore a complex challenge; at the same time, it represents a significant opportunity to foster a university that is more equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and conducive to collective flourishing.